Well, like I said, I don't think us rookies show up without a question or two and I'm no different.
I live over in eastern NC and recently bought an '87 FJ60 from a member here. My wife was pissed that I made her drive 6 hours for me to go pick this thing up, but she seems to have developed a fondness for the truck. Fortunately for me she can't drive a manual transmission so I don't have to worry about hostile takeovers (for now)
On to my headache-
The previous owner had the system converted to R134 by a shop and said it was working great.
Saturday I used the AC briefly and it was cool but not cold. I was concerned at first that it was inop, but after parking it I saw the puddle of water underneath the truck (checked, it was water). So Saturday afternoon I bought some R134 thinking it may need a charge. Last night I broke out my gages and sure enough, it was low. So I proceeded to add R134 to the system and the gages showed gaining charge and then immediately losing charge. Upon closer inspection I noticed leaking from the bottom of the compressor. I can't see the bottom of the compressor without taking it off but I suspect that there is a crack.
Should I buy a reman'd compressor around $450 (which I'm hard pressed to afford at the moment) or cruiserparts.net says they have one used, no leaks with clutch for $100.
Can I use my old clutch if I buy the compressor from cruiserparts?
I have the mechanical ability to swap the compressors out myself, so I should only be concerned about getting someone to draw a good vacuum on this thing correct? I don't want to involve the shops around here anymore than I have to.
I don't have any problem staying with R134 because it is so readily available and I have the gages to refill the system. I searched and saw some folks recommending other types of refrigerant but I'm concerned that if I ever have to take it to a shop, I'll be SOL.
What say you Mudders?
I live over in eastern NC and recently bought an '87 FJ60 from a member here. My wife was pissed that I made her drive 6 hours for me to go pick this thing up, but she seems to have developed a fondness for the truck. Fortunately for me she can't drive a manual transmission so I don't have to worry about hostile takeovers (for now)
On to my headache-
The previous owner had the system converted to R134 by a shop and said it was working great.
Saturday I used the AC briefly and it was cool but not cold. I was concerned at first that it was inop, but after parking it I saw the puddle of water underneath the truck (checked, it was water). So Saturday afternoon I bought some R134 thinking it may need a charge. Last night I broke out my gages and sure enough, it was low. So I proceeded to add R134 to the system and the gages showed gaining charge and then immediately losing charge. Upon closer inspection I noticed leaking from the bottom of the compressor. I can't see the bottom of the compressor without taking it off but I suspect that there is a crack.
Should I buy a reman'd compressor around $450 (which I'm hard pressed to afford at the moment) or cruiserparts.net says they have one used, no leaks with clutch for $100.
Can I use my old clutch if I buy the compressor from cruiserparts?
I have the mechanical ability to swap the compressors out myself, so I should only be concerned about getting someone to draw a good vacuum on this thing correct? I don't want to involve the shops around here anymore than I have to.
I don't have any problem staying with R134 because it is so readily available and I have the gages to refill the system. I searched and saw some folks recommending other types of refrigerant but I'm concerned that if I ever have to take it to a shop, I'll be SOL.
What say you Mudders?
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